For the safety of the operator of any wheeled vehicle using a gear shift lever, and for the effective use of the vehicle, it is very important that the gear shift control mechanism provide for maintaining the gear shift lever in a neutral position such that the transmission does not operate. This is true particularly with hydraulic transmissions where at times even a small amount of movement of the control lever will cause enough shifting of a spool valve to permit fluid movement of eventual sufficiency to effect unintended operation of the transmission.
Various latching devices and the like have been devised to lock the gear shift control lever into a neutral position, and one arrangement ties the control lever to the parking brake such that the gear shift lever cannot be moved out of the neutral position without releasing the parking brake.
Those concerned with this type of problem recognize the need for an improved mechanism for retaining the gear shift control lever for a hydraulically operated transmission in a neutral position when placed therein by the operator.